Thursday, September 23, 2010

Epic Muslin: Will I Ever be Done?

On Saturday I got down to work on my Lady Grey Coat. And I worked on it more on Tuesday. And again last night.

My first big decision was choosing what size to make. If, like me, your bust, waist and hip measurements direct you to three different pattern sizes, you understand that this is not ever an easy choice. Should I go by my largest size (ie: hips)? That would definitely make the coat too large through the shoulders, which I find difficult to alter. Waist size? No, the waist is easy to fix if it is off. So, I decided to go with my full bust measurement over clothing, since this is a coat and will be worn over clothing - so a size 10 is what I am making.

Mirror, mirror on the wall: Am I an 8, a 10 or a 12?

I also made a controversial decision about alterations. I did lengthen each piece by 2" above the waist, which is "the usual" given my height (5'9"). BUT, Given the cut of the coat - flared from waist to hem - I decided NOT to grade the pattern out to a size 12 in the hips. I may regret this decision.

Do you think this style will hide flatter my hips?

I'm gambling on the fact that the style lines of the coat (namely, the flare) will have enough ease to fit my hips. But just in case, I've decided that I ought to do the super extended version of muslin making that Gertie posted about last week, enlarging the seam allowances to 1 inch in order to have extra room for any alterations. This is a tedious process. Very very tedious, and involving drawing seam lines onto the pattern pieces, using huge swaths of transfer paper (I *heart* the FIT bookstore!), drawing new cutting lines onto the muslin, then cutting, and finally sewing along the seam lines! TEDIOUS!!!!

My muslin pieces

Anyway, the whole point of this post is to say that by last night I was ready to commit hari-kari; I am only half way done cutting out my muslin pieces. Luckily for me, the only weapon in my home is a hot glue gun. And it wasn't even plugged in. Or loaded with glue. So, the worst case scenario, should I reach the breaking point, is that I glue my fingers together or give myself a burn on my thimble finger, so that I can't sew.
Tonight, as amental health fun socialbreak, I'm meeting up with Erato, Terp and Poly, for a bit of fabric shopping and chat. I may even relent and buy fabric for this project before I finish the muslin. That might encourage me. Either way, I think a trip to Mood will do wonders for my own mood. Stay tuned.

3 comments:

I had exactly the same dilemma when choosing the size, and I went with the 10 to fit my narrow shoulders and bust. I found there was plenty of flare to cover the hip issue (and am actually in the process of taming the flare just a bit). I think you'll be fine.

Welcome

Welcome to Clio & Phineas, where I sew and knit, run and bake, and make a mess in general. This year we even made a baby, Taco. Phin often gets stuck with clean up, especially now that we've had an addition. Feel free to send us an email at Clio[dot]Phineas[at]gmail[dot]com